Flipper is bringing ‘burner phones’ to Britain

For the uninitiated, a ‘burner phone’ or ‘burner number’ is a pay-as-you-go phone number used for only a short period of time, before being discarded.

And no, it’s not just used on shows like The Wire by criminals or corrupt politicians in House of Cards, but in real life too.

Whether it’s security conscious-types concerned about their privacy and government surveillance, freelance business people who need a second number, or increasingly, online traders and daters who don’t want to hand out their actual number.

While ‘burner phones’ began as a US phenomenon, and spawned into a multi-million dollar industry, now a new group of entrepreneurs are trying to introduce them to digital life in Britain.